Apr 14, 2005

Oops, she got knocked up again.

So it's confirmed - Britney Spears is pregnant.

Now that's just plain CRAZY talk. She's freakin' 23 years olf. That's a year younger than me. My current stance on parenthood? It should be outlawed.

There's something weird about a teeny-bop pop sensation younger than you having a kid. I mean Britney doesn't really win the prize for maturity and well-reasoned thinking, at least not in my book. I thought it was great when she threw off the 17-year-old finger-sucking virgin act and started acting like a real chick in her early 20s - smoking, drinking, clubbing etc.

Everyone at that stage talked about her as becoming a bad role model for girls. I wonder what they'll now say about her? To me, a whirlwind marriage to a guy who left his previous girlfriend while she was pregnant with his second child, and a baby within a year, is a far WORSE role model for teenage girls than a bit of drinking and promiscuity.

Anyhoo, there's not much I can do about that. There's still some residual weirdness too because one of my best friends Jacqui in England is pregnant. She's just turned 25. It's bizarre for me because she's the first close friend I have who's having a baby. I haven't known that many people who've had kids, and certainly not so close. It's kind of like the end to my childhood - I still regard my friends and I as kids and when THEY start having kids...it just seems surreal.

My friend Alisha is the opposite. She seems to work with or know HEAPS of women who have just had a baby, are trying to have a baby, or a having a baby while she's talking to them on the phone. ;) She's much more accustomed to the condition.

In other less figure-destroying news (although that is debatable) I am officially now full-time at 4BC. Hooray! I am on an odd roster though. I think it will take a while to sort out. I seem to be on most of what I will politely call the "odd hours" shifts - I think because there's no one else available to do them. For example, I am currently on my "weekend". I finish this week's roster on Sunday, after working Friday and Saturday. But then the roster changes, and I have to then work Monday to Friday next week before I get the weekend off. So I will have worked eight days in a row when I get my next weekend. So I don't know if this will be often, but it seems if it does continue I will end up with four weekends for every five weeks worked or something like that. Which is all very well and good, but not something I want to do forever. It's certainly a challenge, though, and I look forward to it. I just wish there was a bit more cash involved. ;)

And I haven't mentioned anything yet about the Pope's death.

Briefly - I thought John Paul the Second was a fun figure for the Church and for comedy in general. His visible presence on the world stage made him a great punchline. Not to insult anyone with that but hey, make 'em laugh and they will listen. ;)

Seriously, I admire the obvious faith that he maintained without question. But I do think his position was almost medieval, and while he inspired faith and hope in many, he turned me off. A Church which places all its interpretive power into the hands of solely men and relegates women to wives and mothers is not realistic. Life is not that simple. Even if I wanted to, I probably couldn't just stay at home and pump out kids. And while I am in a monogamous long-term relationship, I have the right to have sex with whomever I want, use birth control while doing it, and to have an abortion if I feel it is the best possible option for me. I feel there is no place for me in a Church that cannot even meet me even halfway on those issues.

I should make a note: I was actually brought up a Catholic so I can say all this shit with experience. ;)

Final note: I love churches themselves to bits. Greg and I had the best time in Rome just wandering about the city admiring all the Churches we past. Say what you will about the Catholics, they certainly knew the best architects and artists!